Working abroad: good personally, good professionally

Young people emigrate for lifestyle reasons. It’s a small island, and a lot of people want to get off it.They want to see another part of the world.

Those were the rather clunky sentiments expressed by Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, in 2012. They may have been the most unpopular words he has uttered, particularly among the thousands of emigrants who never wanted to leave Ireland but were forced to go abroad in search of work.

Now, in 2014, we are told the economy is on the up and the chances of getting a job are better than ever. Despite this, people are still leaving. Why?

A big move

“It is not a choice people take lightly,” says

David Walsh

, commercial development manager at Osborne Recruitment, an Irish agency which places Irish workers overseas.

“Some may want to go abroad and work for a while but, from a recruitment point of view, we often find that people who feel they have to leave often won’t leave if their heart isn’t in it: they may try to ride it out, or perhaps seek work in the UK, commuting home at weekends. Australia and Canada aren’t just around the corner, and it’s a big move.”

Jane Lorigan, Europe chief executive of Saongroup and managing director of irishjobs.ie, says employers in Ireland value overseas experience.

“If you have worked in a market where the pace is different and been exposed to different ways of working and levels of competition, you bring back a different perspective. Employers see that these graduates are self-reliant, independent problem solvers.”

Natasha Marron, a careers adviser at NUI Maynooth, says the Irish economy is improving, but there are still great benefits to graduates who look abroad for work. "The employment experience is very valuable. Graduates working in a different culture or country will experience a slightly different work culture," she says.

Worthwhile experiences

“Going abroad also shows an ability to be adaptable in the face of a significantly different culture, language, money and climate.

“English-language teaching programmes such as JET in Japan and EPIK in South Korea are really worthwhile experiences in and of themselves, and employers do notice when graduates move outside of their comfort zone.”

Employers taking on graduates in Ireland may feel people who travelled or worked abroad have, to some extent, got the travel bug out of their system, making them more likely to stay in an Irish job. These graduates also bring with them experience of a different legislative environment.

Tony Donohue, education policy officer at the the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (Ibec) says spending some time working abroad offers long- and short-term rewards for graduates. "We hear a lot about unfilled vacancies in Ireland because of a shortage of people with language skills, particularly among the big multinationals that locate here, such as Paypal," he says.

“But the biggest challenge in Irish industrial policy at the moment, and one which we hear less about, is the development of the indigenous export sector. A lot of companies are switching off from non-English speaking markets because they aren’t positioned to interact with them or because they think the skills challenge is daunting.” Graduates who have worked in other markets, of course, may help plug that skills gap, making them an even greater prize for savvy exporters who want to develop their business.

Whether through choice, lack of choice or a combination of both, good reasons remain for going abroad in search of work.

Carl O'Brien's Living Wage series, featured in The Irish Times this week, shows that real incomes have been falling for five years, and one in five workers now earn less than the "living wage" of €11.45 an hour – the income below which campaigners say it is impossible to make ends meet in Ireland. The economy may be on the up, with the chances of getting a job improving, but for many graduates, Australia, New Zealand and Canada offer better wages and good prospects, as well as the chance to experience life in a different part of the world.

Ireland has for decadeshad the highest proportion of population overseas, followed by another small island nation, New Zealand. During the downturn, Osborne Recruitment experienced more demand for overseas opportunities. “We focused initially on Australia and New Zealand, worked for a while with clients wanting people to work in the Middle East and Africa, and now, over the past few years, we have placed people in Canadian jobs,” says Walsh.

A path home

“To some extent, going abroad has long been part of the graduate experience – going abroad and finding what is out there,” says Lorigan. “The difficulty can be getting them back. It’s less of a problem for people to leave when they feel that there is a path home.”

It has become easier than ever to look for jobs abroad. “Two decades ago, people had to get on the plane and search for job when they landed,” says Lorigan. “Now they can apply for jobs online through sites like irishjobs.ie, which is part of an international network of recruitment sites. They do interviews via video or telephone and have it all set up before they leave the country.”

It isn’t always so straightforward, and Walsh cautions that it can be easier to pick up work overseas if job seekers have some work experience at home before they go.

“It can be useful to connect with an agency before flying overseas. It is crucial for graduates to ensure that they have the right visas and registrations before they travel, as nursing and teaching registrations are among those that can take up to six months to process. This can be done from Ireland.”

Everyone has their own reasons for moving abroad. For the majority of graduates, the move is usually more straightforward as they often don’t have to worry about relocating a family to another country and getting children set up in school.

Should graduates take the plunge and go abroad, even at the risk of missing family and friends at home?

“Do it,” says Walsh. “The world is a smaller place these days, and with Skype it is much easier to keep in touch. Going abroad for work can be an adventure and a chance to travel.”

Destinations Where are people going?

Canada’s ageing population and relatively low birth rate, as well as changes to its apprenticeship system, mean Canada requires about 250,000 immigrants per year. The need for workers with skilled trades is growing. Engineering and construction are among the careers that have opened up, while agriculture is a growing sector. Many people work in the Albertan oil sands.

In early 2011, an earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, devastated the city centre. Any visitor to Christchurch – including this journalist, who was there in late 2012 – will immediately notice that about half the people are young and Irish – and looking to avail of the numerous opportunities that grew up around the construction industry. “They had a huge skills shortage for mobile workers; Ireland had a surplus of construction workers,” says David Walsh of Osborne Recruitment. “And there were cultural similarities.”

Doctors who trained in Ireland are also looking abroad for career opportunities, whether working in overseas hospitals or with NGOs such as Medicines Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders). Nurses are flocking out of the country too.

Graduate internships are another good route to working abroad. College careers advice offices are a good place to inquire about opportunities. Gradireland has useful advice and information on getting a job abroad (see gradireland.com/work-experience).

There are a number of graduate internship programmes, including Enterprise Ireland’s Graduates 4 International Growth and Ibec’s Export Orientation programme and its Food and Drink Marketing programme. Multinational employers, including those in tech and finance industries, also have international opportunities for graduates.

Gradireland’s work experience section contains information on current schemes, while other opportunities are available through European institutions, including the EU jobs network Eures, and internships and traineeships at the European Patent Office.

USIT is also a valuable source of information on work-abroad programmes. This long-established institution has helped graduates find secure placements overseas for decades, with a special focus on the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Programmes include farm work, professional career training, internships, one- and two-year working visas, special skills visas and language teaching.